mhd:Hmm, how different is Ukrainian from Russian actually? More Spanish-Italian or Swedish-Norwegian?

Not very. But what do I know? The Ukrainian friend I have speaks a retarded mixture of Ukrainian and Portuguese because her mom is native to Brazil. We call it Portukrainian. The best part is she didn't even know it wasn't pure Ukranian until I said a word in Spanish and she replied, 'That sounds just like the Ukrainian word for [whatever it was that I said in Spanish]!" A lightbulb went on over all our heads.

mhd:Hmm, how different is Ukrainian from Russian actually? More Spanish-Italian or Swedish-Norwegian?

There is a long and troubled history between Russia and the Ukraine. The Ukraine, along with Poland was always a buffer region between East/West Europe. In its way the Ukraine has suffered as much through land grabs and wars as Poland. Even before the days of Communist Russia they suffered under Russian control. Their language and national identity faced a focused attempt at being wiped out. It's far beyond language differences/similarites like Spanish to Italian. Fascinating, and troubling story if you ever need a topic to read.

Holodomor(pops)Here is a stomach turning story of genocidal starvation in Ukraine in the 30s, done purposefully by the Soviet Gov't.

I'm not Ukrainian or Russian, it's just a horrible history that should be learned. It's not hard to see these guys still punching each other when one's grandfather could have starved at the hands of another's policies. And the Holodomor is one incident (huge and ugly) in a long list of incidents

Glenford:CitizenTed: Since we Americans would actually approve of this behavior in our Legislature, we have NO OPTION but to make this a hot Ukrainian chicks thread.

[100ukrainianbrides.com image 294x418]

Hot Ukrainian politician:[ww1.prweb.com image 400x400]

... currently serving time for charges of "corruption", that are described by the EU as "politically selective". IOW, she's prob guilty, but no more so than any other official; she's just paying the price for losing an election in a country where that can mean a death sentence.

Broom:Glenford: CitizenTed: Since we Americans would actually approve of this behavior in our Legislature, we have NO OPTION but to make this a hot Ukrainian chicks thread.

[100ukrainianbrides.com image 294x418]

Hot Ukrainian politician:[ww1.prweb.com image 400x400]

... currently serving time for charges of "corruption", that are described by the EU as "politically selective". IOW, she's prob guilty, but no more so than any other official; she's just paying the price for losing an election in a country where that can mean a death sentence.

It seems to me that the more likely an exiting head of state will be tried and imprisoned, the more likely that country has a problem with heads of states using whatever means they can to stay in power. When losing an election could result in life in prison or worse, you have nothing to lose by fixing elections. What came first? Did the threat of "persecution" drive the corruption, or was it the expected results of corruption? Because of this, I am glad we (the U.S.) simply drive people like Nixon into obscurity.

OgreMagi:When losing an election could result in life in prison or worse, you have nothing to lose by fixing elections. What came first? Did the threat of "persecution" drive the corruption, or was it the expected results of corruption? Because of this, I am glad we (the U.S.) simply drive people like Nixon into obscurity.

A very astute conclusion. In fact, it's why Obama probably shouldn't have pursued war crime charges against Bush & Co., no matter what they might have done... and why Ford did what he did, as you say.

If Obama were to pursue any charges, no matter how eggregious, he would be guaranteed to be brought up on charges himself upon stepping down. And the cycle of stupid would continue.

Perhaps our best move in recent years was the Kenneth Starr limitless funding and duration Clinton investigation - the massive overreach of it all, ending in a meaningless gesture from Congress, made the system look weak, pointless, and wasteful. Now, political witchhunts are restricted to bringing lawsuits and Congressional "insight hearings", instead of full-blown political circuses.